


what are the odds?

by buen



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, F/M, Identity Reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:55:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28829247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buen/pseuds/buen
Summary: In which Ladybug and Chat Noir reveal their identities to each other months after Marinette gets married.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 9
Kudos: 111





	what are the odds?

It was done. Their long years of fighting hawkmoth had come to an end. Ladybug agreed to reveal their identities to each other as the only thing that kept them from doing so was finally gone. 

Chat Noir sat at the top of the eiffel tower, kicking his legs in excitement and anxiousness. He was finally going to know his lady’s identity! This was by far the best day of his life, he was certain. 

He heard a loud thump behind him and quickly turned his head to the direction of the noise to see his Ladybug smiling down at him, “Are you ready, minou?” 

“Ready as I’ll ever be, my lady.” He stood up, “Do you want to go first or should I?” 

“How about we both drop our transformations at the same time? On three?” Her eyes sparkled and God, what he would give to keep that sparkle in her eyes for the rest of their lives. 

He nodded and started counting to three. They both closed their eyes at the brightness as their transformations dissolved. Chat opened his eyes first, too eager to see who his other half had been all this time. He’d been thinking all day long about how she might be someone who he saw on a daily basis, yet never had any idea that it was her. It was so exciting. He felt giddy.

His smile dropped at the sight of her civilian self, “Marinette...” 

Marinette was looking at him in amazement, “Adrien!” She ran up to him to engulf him in a hug. “It’s you! I shouldn’t even be surprised, it’s all too obvious now that I know!” She laughed incredulously in his chest while he remained standing stiffly in her arms. She immediately noticed his immobility. “Adrien?” She pulled back and looked at him in concern, “Are you... Is everything okay?” 

He looked at her with teary eyes, “It’s you.” He laughed without humor. “Of course it’s you.”

She flinched at his tone, “Oh.” She looked like she was about to cry. “I’m sorry. I guess... I was too happy to have found out Chat had been one of my best friends in my civilian life all along, I didn’t realize there’d be a possibility that... you would be disappointed... knowing it’s me.”

He immediately felt bad for making her think that he thought her civilian self wasn’t good enough to be Ladybug. “No... no, it’s... why?”

Her brows scrunched up in confusion, “What do you mean why?” 

“Why didn’t you wait for me?” She shot him a questioning look, so he continued. “You’re married.”

Marinette’s face relaxed in understanding, “That I am.”

“Why didn’t you wait for me?” He felt so much pain, he probably looked like he was in so much pain too. “I love you. You know that. I’ve been in love with you since the day we first met, why didn’t you wait for me?”

“Adrien.” She stepped back. “I did wait for you. I waited for six years. I was in love with you for six years and I told you that, didn’t I? But you rejected me. So why are you...” He didn’t hear the rest of what she said as he drowned out her voice and recalled his memories from when they were nineteen.

Marinette. Sweet, beautiful Marinette. She was dancing in the rain as he stared at her with a lovesick gaze, he didn’t even know he was looking at her with. She pulled him in a manner that was trying to coax him into dancing silly with her in the middle of a rainfall. He joined her and they danced without music for what seemed like hours, hours he were immensely grateful for.

Then they were looking at each other as if they were the only people who existed, as if they were the only people that mattered. “I love you.” Adrien froze. “And I mean that in a more than friends way.” She was smiling softly at him. “I’ve been in love with you since you gave me your umbrella when we first met.” She then smiled sheepishly. “Well... it was more of an obsessive crush at first, I admit. But as we got closer, I fell in love with the real you. Not that you were fake or anything, just... I finally knew how it felt like to love the person beneath the mask of the ‘perfect model Adrien Agreste’ and I... I really love you, Adrien.”

He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He stared at Marinette’s ocean blue eyes and realized that... maybe he was in love with her too. If the rapid beating of his heart was any indication, or the sudden urge to kiss her senseless. 

Oh God. 

He loved her. He loved her so much, he felt like his heart was going to explode out of joy from her confession. All he wanted to do at the moment was pull her into his arms and chant “I love you, too.” repeatedly for her ears to hear.

But then a certain superhero dressed in red came into his mind. Ladybug. His lady. His partner. He remembered he was in love with her too. His shoulders slumped. He had to choose between the two most amazing women in his life, didn’t he?

He contemplated silently in his mind for a couple of minutes on whether he’d be willing enough to give up on Ladybug to be with Marinette or not. 

Marinette was still staring at him, anxiously but lovingly. Patiently waiting for his response. 

Adrien sighed. Marinette didn’t deserve half baked feelings. She was a princess. What she deserved was every good thing the world can offer, and he knew he won’t be able to be the person who could give that to her. Not when he was still in love with Ladybug.

But he loved her too. So why couldn’t he just be with her? He wanted to... so badly. But after years and years of pursuing Ladybug, he realized he couldn’t stop now. 

He was such a mess. He didn’t want to break Marinette’s heart, but he had no other choice.

“Mari...” He spoke slowly. “I’m so sorry.” He choked on his words. He really did not want to do this. “I... I’m in love with someone else.” 

He could tell her. He could tell her who he was, his alter ego. He could tell her who the other girl he was in love with was. Maybe she would understand. Maybe a relationship between them would work if she knew. He could tell her he was as desperately in love with her as he was with Ladybug.

Tears pooled in his eyes. That wouldn’t be fair to Marinette. She was the kindest, most amazing, most talented, most beautiful girl he’s ever met. That wouldn’t be fair to her. 

He wanted to break down. He wanted to collapse, be on his knees and beg all the deities for himself to be split in two, so he could love both girls freely without having to feel guilty. 

He heard Marinette sniff. She was crying. She was crying, and it was all his fault! Why did he have to be such a screw up? Why couldn’t he just let go of Ladybug and be with Marinette? He was so pathetic.

Adrien cupped Marinette’s cheeks and looked into her eyes with an overflowing amount of love that can’t and won’t be rivaled by anybody else, even if they tried. 

“I’m so sorry.” His voice was shaking. She was his best friend. He loved her so much. 

She nodded and leaned into his touch, “I understand.” She looked up at him sadly. He could practically hear her heart breaking. At the same time, his heart was too.

He wanted to be with her… he really did. But Ladybug…

He knew it didn’t matter. All this pain would pass, and so would her feelings for him. There was a twinge in his chest at that thought. He didn’t like the thought of her falling out of love with him and catching feelings for somebody else. He didn’t like the thought of her pouring her affections into someone that’s not him. He hated it. But unless he wanted to set her up for an even bigger heartbreak, he had to let her go. 

So he let her go. He watched her fall in love with someone else from the sidelines. Watched as she danced in the rain with the new love of her life. And watched as she married him. 

Luka. He was a good guy. He’d take care of her. It hurt so much to admit, but he knew she was in good hands.

Marinette rambled continuously, but Adrien didn’t hear any of it. He was only snapped back to the current reality when Marinette asked, “Why didn’t you come to our wedding?”

He looked at her, bewildered. How could she ask that to him? He wondered if she was hurting him on purpose, but shut the idea down because he knew she would never do that to him. He knew she had always been the type of person to feel the need to know everything about everything, all the time. He couldn’t really blame her for her lack of filter.

“I mean, you’re still my best friend, and Luka expected you to be one of his groomsmen, but you didn’t show. Why?” He could tell she was genuinely curious. 

He didn’t know what to say. Because he did go. He was there, outside of the church when she and Luka got married. He didn’t have the guts to come in, because he knew he would only cause trouble. He might have broken down in the middle of the wedding and ruined it for them. He might even have stopped the ceremony. That would have made her upset. He didn’t want her to be upset. He wanted her to be happy, so he kept himself from entering the venue.

It had been 2 months since his Princess had gotten married and the only thing that kept him from going insane was the fact that he still had Ladybug. He had been looking forward to this identity reveal. He thought he could finally be happy.

Oh, the irony.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, “I messed up.” He said. “I messed up so bad.” Adrien started sobbing. Marinette wanted to go and hug him for comfort but she knew it would only worsen the damage.

“I’m so sorry, Adrien.” was all Marinette could offer. “It’s okay. I understand. I shouldn’t have asked you that, that was insensitive of me.”

Adrien cried louder because she didn’t understand. She only knew half the truth. She was probably thinking he was only crying because he just found out Ladybug was married. He wanted to scream. She had no idea how much effort he had to put into holding back his feelings for Marinette to reserve himself for Ladybug. She had no idea how much he already loved Marinette before even knowing she was the one behind the mask, and how much it wrecked him to find out he had not only lost Marinette when he broke her heart, but Ladybug too. 

Fate was a cruel thing.

Marinette glanced at her watch and looked at Adrien hesitantly. “Kitty… Do you want to come over for dinner tonight? I need to go home but I can’t just leave you here.” She bit her lip guiltily.

His heart broke once more. She needed to go. To her husband. To their home. 

He shook his head fervently, “I’m-“ he choked on his own tears. “I’m fine you can… you can go… I’ll be fine… I will be.” He didn’t sound the slightest bit convincing. He knew he would never be fine again. And that was his own fault. Because he was too stupid to see and choose what was right in front of him.

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first fanfic hello??? sorry if its kinda bad


End file.
